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Bradley fuming about contraband tobacco By Kim Arnott SPECIAL TO THE BEAVER Drive by any Oakville high school during lunch hour and you're certain to see a cluster of teenagers gathered on the sidewalk smoking. The sunshine brings them out in hordes, but they can even be seen shivering with their cigarettes on bone-chilling winter days, making it appear that the addiction that could last a lifetime has already taken hold. It seems not to matter that very few high school students have reached the 19th birthday that makes them old enough to legally purchase cigarettes -- the evidence is clear -- they're getting their hands on them anyway. And that makes Oakville mother Jacqueline Bradley furious. "I think we all need to get angry," says Bradley, executive director of the National Coalition Against Contraband Tobacco. When she looks at that cluster of smoking kids, she knows that more than 40 per cent of them are smoking contraband, or illegal cigarettes. And they're buying them from suppliers who deliver them to the schoolyards and certainly don't ask for proof of age. For Bradley, it's been a year of learning about Canada's tobacco black market. As a non-smoking mother of two, she was convinced that laws hiding cigarettes out of sight at convenience stores were keeping her kids safe. She was also blissfully ignorant about the reality of black-market cigarettes. And then her teenage daughter told her about a plastic bag of cigarettes being passed around at a smoking cigarettes of any kind, but believes the unregulated pervasiveness of the contraband product make the habit much easier for kids to start. And she's bringing that parental voice to the issue, trying to spread the word among other families, in an attempt to galvanize various levels of government into action. While she believes that political sensitivities around aboriginal issues have led governments to largely turn a blind eye to illegal tobacco trafficking and smoke shops on native lands, she thinks it's time for families to tell their political representatives that their inaction is harming childSee Moms' page 16 15 · Friday, November 4, 2011 OAKVILLE BEAVER · www.insideHALTON.com Jacqueline Bradley party. "It turns out that contraband cigarettes are now everywhere," said Bradley. "I didn't know that children could buy cigarettes with a loonie or toonie. They're cheaper than candy." As she learned how readily available and inexpensive illegal cigarettes are, her anger grew, Bradley. And that anger compelled her to get involved with the issue. The coalition she now heads up (www.stopcontrabandtobacco.ca) brings together a diverse group of f people, including convenience store owners, tobacco manufacturers, the Canadian Taxpayers Federation and the union that represents Canadian border guards, all of whom have their own reasons to want black market tobacco controlled. But regardless of the motivation of others in the coalition, Bradley says her only interest is as a mother. She doesn't want to see kids AT LEAST FALL SALES EVENT Sterling House's 20 % OFF EVERYTHING IN THE STORE * Reg: $2399 for King bed SOLI SO SOLI LID MA MAPL PLE Cana Ca nadian dia di an n ma mad made de e $ 1899 SALE Reg: $349 $ SALE 225 Reg: $2499 $ 1799 SALE Reg: $2699 FURNACE & AIR CONDITIONER GET UP TO turn to the experts sm $ 2199 SALE $ UP TO 3240 $ * ® IN REBATES UP TO UP TO 1040 + $ 650 + $ 1550 4 DAYS ONLY! Friday, November 4th to Monday, November 7th *Please see Store for Details GOVT. REBATE BEST PRICE GUARANTEED FURNACE DIAGNOSTIC ONLY $ 00 FLOOR MODELS DRASTICALLY REDUCED TO CLEAR MISSISSAUGA HOME AND DESIGN CENTRE 2575 Dundas St. W., Mississauga (Between Winston Churchill & Erin Mills Pkwy) OPA REBATE CARRIER REBATE *Call for details. 49 NORMALLY $99 905-849-4998 9 LOCATIONS TO SERVE YOU BETTER *See dealer for details www.aireone.com 1-888-827-2665 Tel: 905-820-4111 · Fax: 905-820-4445 A+ Rating www.sterlinghouse.ca